The law of justice, love and charity: the most important of the ten moral laws

Of all the ten moral laws of Spiritism, this is the one the work itself points to as the principal. It occupies chapter XI of the third part of O Livro dos Espíritos (The Spirits' Book), questions 873 to 892, and answers what justice is, where one person's right begins and another's ends, what legitimate property is and what the doctrine understands by charity, which is much more than giving alms.

Guatambu Travel organises Spiritist caravans departing from Porto Alegre for the Triângulo Mineiro, and this is the law that appears most in practice: the charitable works the group visits in Uberaba and Sacramento come from it. Here we describe what the doctrine states, without trying to prove or deny anything, with the question number given for each quotation for anyone who wants to check.

Why is this considered the most important of the ten laws?

Because the work itself says so, in its comments on the division of the natural law into ten parts. In the question that presents the complete list, the answer states that the last law is the most important, because it is the one that allows the human being to advance furthest in spiritual life (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 648).

The reason appears later, when the book asks what the character would be of someone who practised justice in its pure state: “That of the truly just person, after the example of Jesus, for such a person would also practise love of neighbour and charity, without which there is no true justice.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 879)

In other words: for the Spiritist doctrine, justice without love and without charity does not amount to justice.

Is the sense of justice learned, or are we born with it?

We are born with it, according to the work, and the proof offered is our own reaction to what is unjust: “It is so much in nature that you revolt at the mere idea of an injustice. There is no doubt that moral progress develops this feeling, but it does not give it. God placed it in the human heart.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 873)

The same answer adds an observation that often draws attention: “Hence it often happens that in simple, uneducated people you find more accurate notions of justice than in those who possess a great store of learning.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 873)

And if the feeling is natural, why do so many people disagree about what is just? The work answers: “It is because passions become mixed with this feeling and alter it, as happens with most other natural feelings, making people see things through a false prism.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 874)

How does Spiritism define justice?

In one sentence: “Justice consists in each person respecting the rights of others.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 875)

Immediately afterwards the work separates two sources of right, human law and natural law, and warns that the two do not always coincide: “Hence the right that people prescribe is not always in accord with justice.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 875)

The argument is historical, and holds for any age: “See whether your laws today, imperfect as they are, enshrine the same rights as those of the Middle Ages. Yet those antiquated rights, which now seem monstrous to you, seemed just and natural at that time.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 875)

What is the basis of justice according to the natural law?

The reciprocal rule, quoted from the Gospel, with an inversion that changes everything: “Christ said: Let each person wish for others what they would wish for themselves.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 876)

And the way to apply it when in doubt: “When uncertain how to act towards a fellow human being in a given circumstance, let a person try to find out how they would wish to be treated in an identical circumstance. God could not have given a surer guide than conscience itself.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 876)

Asked where each person's right ends, the work returns the same criterion: “The limit of the right that, as regards oneself, one recognises in one's fellow, in identical circumstances and reciprocally.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 878)

And it answers the objection that this would dissolve every hierarchy: “The natural rights are the same for all people, from those of the humblest condition to those of the highest position. God did not make some of purer clay than that used to make the others, and in His eyes all are equal.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 878)

What is the first of the natural rights?

That of living, and from it follows the most basic prohibition: “That of living. For this reason no one has the right to attempt the life of a fellow being, nor to do anything that might compromise bodily existence.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 880)

This is the point at which this law meets the law of destruction, which deals with murder, war and the death penalty.

What does Spiritism say about property and wealth?

It recognises property acquired through honest work, and limits it by a single criterion. On the right to accumulate goods: “It does, but one must do so in the manner of a family, like the bee, through honest work, and not as an egoist.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 881)

On what legitimate property is, the definition is brief: “Legitimate property is only that which was acquired without harm to others.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 884)

And on the desire to own, the work distinguishes desire from accumulation without purpose: “Yes, but when a person wishes to possess for themselves alone and for personal satisfaction, that is egoism.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 883) In the same question, the other half: “One who, on the contrary, gathers through work with a view to helping their fellow beings practises the law of love and charity, and God blesses their work.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 883)

What is charity for the Spiritist doctrine?

It is not alms. The definition the work attributes to the meaning given by Jesus has three parts, and none of them is money: “Benevolence towards all, indulgence for the imperfections of others, forgiveness of offences.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 886)

On loving one's enemies, the point at which most people stumble, the work explains what it means: “Certainly, no one can bear a tender and passionate love for their enemies. That is not what Jesus meant. To love one's enemies is to forgive them and to repay evil with good.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 887)

Is Spiritism for or against giving alms?

The answer is more uncomfortable than either side expects. The work criticises the situation that produces the beggar: “By condemning themselves to beg for alms, people degrade themselves physically and morally: they become brutish.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 888)

And it holds society to account, not the beggar: “A society based on the Law of God and on justice must provide for the life of the weak, without humiliation for them. It must secure the existence of those who cannot work, without leaving their lives at the mercy of chance and of the goodwill of a few.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 888)

On the act of giving, the censure falls on the manner, not on the gesture: “No; what deserves reproach is not alms, but the manner in which they are usually given.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 888)

Maternal and filial love

The chapter closes with the family. Asked whether maternal love is a virtue or an instinct, the work answers that it is both, and separates the human from the animal by permanence: “In animals, however, this love is limited to material needs; it ceases when care is no longer necessary. In humans it lasts a whole lifetime and involves a devotion and a self-denial that are virtues.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 890)

On parents who are hurt by their children and withdraw, the answer grants no excuse and hands responsibility back: “Moreover, these sorrows are often the consequence of the bad character that parents allowed their children to take on from the cradle. They reap what they sowed.” (O Livro dos Espíritos, question 892)

Where to read this law for yourself

The whole chapter is in O Livro dos Espíritos, third part, chapter XI, questions 873 to 892, divided into five sections: justice and natural rights, the right of property, theft, charity and love of neighbour, and maternal and filial love.

The theme returns, developed further, in O Evangelho segundo o Espiritismo, which Kardec devoted to the moral maxims of Christ. Both works are available as free PDFs in the downloads area of the Federação Espírita Brasileira.

How does a caravan turn this law into practice?

Outside charity there is no salvation is the sentence that sums up the chapter, and it is the one most often heard in the Spiritist centres the caravan visits in Minas Gerais. Guatambu Travel takes groups from Porto Alegre to Uberaba, Sacramento, Araxá and Pedro Leopoldo, with the programme described on the Spiritist caravan page.

And if the group already exists, the route is different. A Spiritist centre, a study group or a large family that wants to travel together does not need to buy individual seats: Guatambu Travel arranges the coach hire with partner operators, without a fleet of its own, and builds the itinerary for that private group. How this works, what the law requires of the operator and how to check the company is explained in bus charter for groups. Anyone organising a trip in another state who needs support in Rio Grande do Sul will find the equivalent in ground services for groups.

Keep reading

This text is part of a series on the ten moral laws of Spiritism, published by Guatambu Travel.

Sources

All quotations in this text were checked question by question against the edition indicated above.

Cover image: title page of O Livro dos Espíritos (Le Livre des Esprits), by Allan Kardec, 1860 edition, public domain, scan by Fran6fran6, via Wikimedia Commons, resized image (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Le_Livre_des_Esprits_2.jpg).